Deepening Shadows
by vintage.soul494
Summary: AU What if it was Ben that had won the fight that day in the woods. Spoilers for Pollo Loco. MA pairing.
1. Reunion

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement was intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know, I know. I swore up and down that I wasn't going to start working on anything new until I'd finished my first two stories but this idea grabbed hold and wouldn't let go. :) Let's hope that it doesn't suck and is worth the wait its causing for my other two stories.

AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: This story is AU, based on me wondering what would have happened if it had been Ben that had won the fight in the woods during Pollo Loco. The story mentions events that are told during the show in flashbacks. Since there is no definitive time line just consider it artistic license if it doesn't jive with how you've pictured things happening.

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From almost the exact moment they'd escaped, Ben had been praying to the Blue Lady to be reunited with Max. Manticore hadn't taught them about emotions, in fact they often tried to stomp them out of them, emotions and cold blooded killers didn't exactly go hand in hand after all. But Ben had always had a special connection with Max.

He'd sacrificed sleep more times than he could count to keep her company when her shark DNA would keep her awake. When he first created a shadow puppet, by accident, Maxie was the first person he'd shared it with and it was always her requests for a story that he gave in too.

When they were still at Manticore, he'd considered protecting Maxie his personal mission. One he'd shared with Zack. He and big brother had been placed in command of their unit because of their abilities but it was their connection to their baby sister that gave them a common ground and made them a team.

He could still remember standing over Jack's bed with Max and Zack, as the smaller boy shook with seizures, talking about what was going to happen to him. He'd seen the fear in his normally fearless sister's eyes and it had made something inside him go cold. She'd crept into his bed the night before and he'd held her while she convulsed. His concerns were driven out of head as they heard the door to their barracks start to open though, the three of them dashed for their beds and pretended with all their might to be asleep. Creeping out of his bed to see what the janitor had given Jack after that scare had been hard but discovering the Blue Lady was worth it, the idea that she was watching over them warmed him, easing his concern for Maxie.

Jack was fine for awhile after that but all too soon came the day when he'd collapsed during morning inspection. They'd dragged him away and he'd never come back. Every story Ben had ever made up about the nomlies had suddenly become all too real and if that was real then he _had _to believe that the Blue Lady was real too. He'd climbed to the High Place and had screamed into the night, needing answers. Instead he'd been caught and punished. Their altar had been destroyed and the lock down on the barracks had been tightened. Manticore didn't believe man made super soldiers and religion should mix. After all faith is a powerful emotion and they'd already chosen their stance on emotions.

The day that Lydecker had sent them to track and capture the convict had been the most exciting day he'd ever experienced. Running through the woods, his brothers and sisters at his side, he'd felt free. And when they'd found the tattoo and had named the man a nomlie, he'd seen it as their chance to show the strength of their faith. There had been something primal about the way they'd torn into him, all teeth and claws and vicious snarls. That was the day he'd discovered what he was meant to be.

The world had dropped out from under him when Maxie, his Maxie, had collapsed to the floor with the same shakes that had made them take Jack away. He'd stood frozen while Zack and then Eva had protected her. He'd never forgiven himself for allowing others to complete his personal mission while he stood idly by. Shock kept him reeling, guilt and disappointment in himself kept him from protesting when Zack had paired him with Brin instead of Max that night.

Four years after then escape Zack had found him living in Miami and all those emotions came flooding back when his big brother told him that Maxie and Jondy had been chased onto a pond that night and Maxie had fallen through the ice. The news that Jondy had left their baby sister there to die...it was like something inside of him snapped.

Zack had left, moving on once he'd discovered that Ben was safe and flying under the radar. A week later Ben had killed for the first time since the nomlie in the woods. If the Blue Lady didn't think his faith was strong enough to make his Maxie worthy of her protection then he would have to show her just how much he believed so that she'd protect his other brothers and sisters. He made four offerings before Lydecker had caught wind of what he was doing and had moved it on him. He'd taken off for New York then Chicago, moving every time the Colonel got too close.

He'd ended up in Seattle. At the time he'd thought it was pure chance that had lead him there but then he'd entered the church, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, to make his latest offering. He'd felt someone move up behind him, a subtle change in the air. No ordinary human could have gotten that close without him noticing which meant one of two things, an automaton from Manticore had been sent to capture him _or_ one of his siblings had found him. Turning quickly, he'd suspected it was her from the second he'd seen her, never mind that she was supposed to be dead. He'd known without a shadow of a doubt it was her as soon as she'd said his name. The Blue Lady must have been very pleased with him if she'd brought his Maxie back to him. The disappointment he'd felt when she'd asked why he was doing it, making his offerings, had cut like a knife. Had she forgotten everything? Had she lost her faith in the Lady?

He'd run then, escaping and evading until he'd had time to regroup and think things through. All it had taken was the sound of his name on her sweet lips and one little question to make him doubt everything. The uncertainty had sent him into a tailspin and he'd started to regret the things he'd done. A trip to the confessional and a talk with Father Destry had him back on track though. This was a test of his faith. He'd taken the priest then, started preparing him for the hunt and when the other man had fallen asleep, he'd gone to the High Place to think.

He should have known that she'd find him but it was still a surprise to find himself tackled to the floor and handcuffed to a pipe.

He tried to explain things to her, if anyone could understand it would her. Her lack of faith, her insistence that the Blue Lady was made up, hurt him, made him angry, but hearing that she thought he was a nomlie had almost destroyed him. What was it about Maxie that brought out so many emotions in him?

She'd convinced him to take her to Father Destry. He probably would have let him go for her but she'd pushed him to the floor, again, and he'd seen it, the words he'd spray painted on the walls to remind him of what he was. MISSION. DUTY. DISCIPLINE. He remembered the last time he'd failed in his mission, he'd been left alone in the world with too many questions and not enough answers. It had been a cold and scary place.

He'd shoved Maxie into Destry's make shift cell and went after the priest. He knew Max would get free, the cell could never contain one of their kind. He'd hunt Destry, he decided, and kill him. It would show Max he was right, that they had a purpose, that the Lady had a plan for them.

He had Destry on the ground when she'd appeared just as he'd known she would. His disappointment in the man had been great but there was only time for a second of regret before Maxie kicked him away from the priest and allowed the man to escape. They clashed then and she matched him blow for blow, kick for kick. It had been too long since he'd found one of his own kind, he realized, as she punched him in the face, the first blow either of them had managed to land.

He was stronger than her, physically, and just as fast, but he found himself holding back, unwilling to hurt her. Well, not too much, he decided, as he backhanded her. They continued to fight, a flurry of kicks and blows of which only a handful connected. Then he kicked her, much harder than he'd intended, and she flew backwards. It happened fast but to his eyes she moved in slow motion. He watched helplessly as her head snapped back and slammed into the tree trunk with a sickening thud, her body a fraction of a second behind. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she slid down to the ground. He watched, heart in his throat, until he spotted the rise and fall of her chest and the flutter of a steady pulse under the skin of her throat.

After a few seconds of indecision, he took off after the priest. He knew Maxie would be alright and he had a mission to complete.

He was closing in on the priest when he heard it. Helicopters were approaching. Fast. Everything inside of him was screaming at him to run. Lydecker was closing in on him and he knew what his fate would be if they captured him. They'd feed him to the nomlies. Just as the panic was about to take over he remembered Maxie.

His sister was lying back there, unconscious and helpless, because of him. His decision was made. He turned and ran back the way he'd come. If he couldn't get her out of there, he'd do what it took to save them both from a fate worse than death, he wouldn't leave her to face it alone.

He reached her just as Lydecker's men surrounded them. Grabbing his spare gun out of its ankle holster, he leveled it on Max, ready to pull the trigger and save her from their own personal demon. He'd save her then he'd save himself.

Two loud bangs echoed through the woods and Ben's world went black.


	2. We're not in Kansas anymore

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement was intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a little shorter than my usual chapters but I'm still trying to decide how much detail to go into about the reindoc and psy ops that Max and Ben undergo. This seemed like the best place to leave it until I figure that out. Next chapter should be out by the end of the week.

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Max woke up slowly, it was a unique experience. It gave her plenty of time to panic. The first thing that she noticed was the pain. Her whole body throbbed with it but her head, that was something more akin to a white hot agony. Her mouth was dry. Cotton mouth and morning breath went hand in hand and she had a feeling her breath could have knocked out an elephant at a hundred paces. Her eyes weren't opening. Why the hell weren't her eyes opening?

She realized she was restrained when she tried to reach up and touch her face and the level of fear she felt shot way beyond the panic stage. Knowing it wouldn't get her anywhere, she struggled to get her breathing under control and remember what had happened.

Ben, she remembered, she'd been fighting Ben in the woods, trying to save Father Destry. He'd been holding back, at least she'd assumed he'd been, because back before the escape, he'd been more than capable of holding his own against Zack and Seth and those two were the best athletes in the unit.

Ok, they'd been fighting, she thought, reminding herself to stay on task, then what? Even as she struggled to remember she was frantically trying to open her eyes, which she now suspected, were crusted over with sleep. She managed her second objective before her first and wished she hadn't. A quick glance around was all it took to know she was in hell. She recognized this place. It had been the stuff of nightmares during her childhood. She was in the infirmary. She was back at Manticore.

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Ben didn't have to struggle to remember what had happened the way Max did. No, he remembered with perfect clarity. He'd been prepared to kill his baby sister and then himself to spare them this fate but even as he'd squeezed down on the trigger his gun had been shot from his hand by Lydecker and then he'd been shot. He'd had just long enough to look down and see the feathered tufts of a tranquilizer dart in his chest before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell bonelessly to the forest floor.

He remembered alright, so waking up in 5x10 foot cell didn't surprise him in the least. His fear of the nomlies warred with his relief over returning to the only home he'd ever known. Right up until Maxie's comment at the Space Needle surfaced, "I bet he'd love to find out what the hell went wrong with you." Her voice echoed through his mind, words overlapping with images of being taken apart by Lydecker, until his head was filled with a senseless cacophony so loud that he never noticed the cell door opening or the child that moved to kneel in front of him. He didn't notice the small hands that gripped his face but by the Blue Lady he sure as hell noticed the pain of another's will overpowering his own.

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Manticore was buzzing with the news that Colonel Lydecker had managed to capture not one but two of the 09'ers and had brought them back to base.

Two of the soldiers felt more strongly than the others about that news.

X5-734, Brin to her brothers and sisters, was of two minds. On one hand, part of her was excited, curious even, about which of her sibs had come home, thrilled that she'd no longer be here alone. But on the other hand, a small part of her, the tiny spark that made her Brin that Manticore couldn't stamp out no matter how they tried, was saddened, because she knew most of her family would rather die than be recaptured.

X5-494 on the other hand was furious. Since his dealings with the guards made him privy to the fact that one of the X5's that had been recaptured was his twin X5-493, the sole cause of so much of his childhood pain, he shook with anger and a desire for revenge. He didn't feel bad to hear that his twin was being worked over by the best of the best of Psy Ops. Nope, no bad feelings about that at all. He didn't feel sorry for the crazy little bastard he'd shared a test tube with. Not at all. If he didn't know better, he'd think that he was trying hard to convince himself that he didn't care. But he did know better. Didn't he?

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Looking up at the sound of the door opening, Max wasn't surprised to see Lydecker come striding in. After all, she was back in hell, it only made sense that her own personal Satan would be there too. She watched him warily as he approached the foot of her bed and began looking over her chart. Her life was back in this man's hands until she managed to escape again and she hated the very idea of it.

"Multiple contusions and abrasions, concussion..." He said as though he was talking to himself. "They had to pick tree bark out of the laceration on the back of your head, so they're speculating that the concussion was a result of a run in with that oak tree we found you bleeding all over." He looked her over with a small, satisfied smile, apparently unaffected by the death glares she was shooting his way. "Little spat with brother Ben?" He asked mockingly, "I'll really have to remember to find Eyes Only and thank him personally for contacting me and letting me know where to find you."

Max's teeth clenched together so tightly she was surprised they didn't shatter. Logan wouldn't have betrayed her, Lydecker was just playing mind games, she told herself.

Lydecker watched her eyes narrow and her face tighten with resolve, he knew she was convincing herself that her trust hadn't been misplaced, and he had to fight back a chuckle. Pulling a tape recorder from his pocket he placed it on the table beside her and pressed play. It was actual conversation they'd had, the audio experts had had to do very little tampering to making the evidence damning.

"Innocent people are dying. I don't know what your agenda is, but if you don't stop this guy, I'm gonna go public with this. Then you'll know what exposure is." The voice was unmistakably Eyes Only.

"You're bluffing." Lydecker heard himself reply, his eyes on Max's face watching closely for her reactions, his kids were all good at hiding their feelings, only the faintest flicker of confusion passed over her face. "You wouldn't do anything...if it put Max at risk."

"If you don't do something about him, then I will." Eyes Only replied. "Max isn't the one I'm worried about. Ben is and she's gone after him. I put a tracking device on her motorcycle, I'll give you her coordinates but you have to promise to put a stop to the murders that Ben has been committing." He demanded.

"If you give me the coordinates, I can promise you son, you'll never have to worry about either of them again."

Lydecker reached out dispassionately and turned off the tape recorder. "He sent me straight too you. I'm disappointed Max, I taught you better than that." He started walking towards the door, knowing that giving her time to think over this betrayal would be the most effective move at this point. Pausing in the door way, he mentioned, without turning to look at her, "I sent Ben down to Psy Ops. I expect him to be a model soldier again in no time. You, on the other hand, I'm not sure whether you can be salvaged or not. You were always more strong willed then 493."


	3. Genetic Condition?

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement was intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know, I know. I haven't been updating as fast lately. Blame it on my husband. He bought me World of Warcraft recently. That game is the most addictive thing I've ever played. Its crazy! Lol I promise to try harder to update in a more timely manner. :) On the plus side I should have the next chapter of the Wooing of Max up today and the one for Dark Angel Alphabetically tomorrow. :D Go me. lol

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Max was too tired to fight them when they came into her cell an hour before dawn. Every morning for three months she'd been dragged out of there kicking and screaming, struggling every step of the way to PsyOps and every morning the fight had proven useless. She wasn't resigned to her fate, far from it, but the exhaustion she felt, mental and physical, was enough to convince her that she needed to save that energy, horde it, so that she could combat their attempts to extinguish her personality. There was a smugness in the expressions of the guards as they hauled her, unresisting, out of her bunk but they were cautious too. All the X series had been trained to resist torture, they weren't stupid enough to think that she'd given in so easily.

Her decision not to waste her energy lasted until she saw the chair. It was, all things considered, an innocuous looking thing, sort of like something you would have seen in a dentist's office, but the pain they inflicted once you were strapped in was worse than anything Max had ever imagined. She fought against the guards but she was weak. They fed her only enough to keep her alive and day after day of this sort of treatment had taken its toll. Brutal hands shoved her into place and tightened the restraints. Fear welled up inside of her at the sight of the lab tech that stepped forward. She was young, in her early twenties, with blond hair and brown eyes. She looked like a strong breeze would break her in half but she made Max quake with fear. Well, not the girl herself really, but rather what she was about to do, what Max was powerless to stop. The girl leaned forward, face impassive and slid a needle into Max's arm. The X-5, normally so strong and full of attitude started to cry. Within seconds the drug was racing through her veins, she could trace the course it took because every where it went it brought white hot agony with it, in less than a minute Max was screaming in pain. And then they stepped forward and used a clamp to force her eye open. They turned on the laser, sending a steady stream of propaganda into her and her screaming died and she was only able to make a choked sobbing noise in its place.

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If anyone had told Ben that his return to Manticore was more pleasant and less painful than his sister's he would have cheerfully called them a liar and snapped their necks. As far as Lydecker was concerned, 493 was broken. They didn't need to bend him to their will the way they were doing with Max, he was far more pliant. No, they didn't need to break him but there was plenty of work to be done to fix him.

When Ben taken out of his cell, he didn't fight. He couldn't fight. The team that had been assigned to work on him were all creations of Manticore like himself, not a human in the bunch. They were empaths and specialists in telecoercion. His real tormentor was 792, a boy, 7 or 8 years old at the most, who had the ability to wipe a mind clean and start from scratch. He didn't do that with Ben though, Command didn't want him to lose all of the training he'd received or the things he'd picked up after he escaped. Instead 792 was riffling through his head, picking out the memories associated with his psychosis and altering them one at a time. It was far more precise than his usual work and his first few attempts had been ham handed at best . His lack of experience had made them more painful than they needed to be. Once he got the hang of things however, the pain intensified rather than decreased. They'd all been taught to hate the '09'ers. Rats, traitors, poison. It had been drilled into them over and over. And 792 saw an opportunity to punish 493 and took it joyfully.

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Brin had been a model soldier since she'd been cleared to return to duty. She'd followed every order, completed every mission but the knowledge that there were two members of her family back at Manticore was throwing her off her game. She had to find out which of her siblings had been captured, not knowing was driving her crazy. It had been three months since the capture and the gossip she'd heard gave no indication that her siblings would be allowed to return to duty any time soon. That was why she found a way to sneak out of her cell that night, it was why she crept along the halls and made her way down to the basement.

She heard footsteps and ducked around a corner, peering out cautiously only to find herself face to face with a pair of hazel green eyes that looked all too familiar. She gasped but the sound was stifled as he placed his hand over her mouth. 494, twin of her brother Ben, model soldier until a failed mission a few short months before had landed him in psy ops, was creeping down to the basement too. He hated the '09'ers, he'd made that clear the few times they'd been partnered together for sparring, so Brin couldn't help but wonder what he was up too.

He released his hold on her mouth once she'd indicated that she wouldn't make a sound and they began a rapid fire conversation in the hand signals they'd all learned as children. He wouldn't explain why he was there but they began to make their way forward, together.

They found one of her sisters first and the sight of her brought tears to Brin's eyes. She'd lost far too much weight, she was battered and bruised, her hair was lank. In truth she looked half dead. If her lips hadn't been moving, saying the same thing over and over, Brin would have thought she was staring at a corpse.

"What's she saying?" 494 asked in a barely audible whisper, making Brin jump. He'd never spoken to her of his own volition before. His Manticore mask was firmly in place but she thought she heard something, pity maybe, in his voice.

"She's saying Max." Brin replied, eyes filling with tears. At least she knew which of her sisters it was.

"Why? That a boyfriend or something she had on the outside?"

"No, that's her name."

"Name? We don't have names. Only designations."

"599," Brin began, not sure why she was bothering to explain, "and 493 decided when we were children that we should have names. All the guards, commanders, even the civilians had them. 493, Ben, named her Max. She was one of the youngest of our unit but she was always so determined, she tried so hard at everything. Ben said she pushed herself and us to the max." Brin found herself smiling softly at the memory but the smile slipped away when she glanced at the soldier beside her.

"Doesn't surprise me." He said curtly. "You're all a bunch of traitors. What's one more act of insubordination?"

His voice had risen in disgust and Max's eyes opened and rolled slowly to meet his.

"Ben?" She whispered brokenly even as her eyes began to shine with love.

494 felt his breath catch. No one, not even Rachel, had looked at him like that before. He wanted to be angry at her for confusing him with his twin but he couldn't find it in him.

"Shh," the sound he'd intended to be a harsh warning to be quiet came out as something much more soothing. It made her smile and he found himself saying it again, "Shhh..."

"Ben always called her Maxie." Brin supplied, surprising herself again.

Memories of his own time in Psy Ops flooded 494 and he felt something he'd never expected to feel for an '09er, concern. His mouth opened of its own volition, "Shhh Maxie, it'll be okay. Just hold on, the pain can't last forever." He found himself giving her his own secret weapon, the thing that he'd told himself over and over, to make it through, that the pain had to end sometime.

"Love you Ben." He heard her say, a heartbreakingly sweet smile on her lips just for him...for Ben, as her eyes drifted shut. Turning he noticed 734 staring at him with a small smirk on her lips. He started to scowl.

"Maybe its genetic." She said.

"Genetic?" He growled back.

"Yeah, genetic. Ben always did everything in he could to make her smile. Looks like you've got the same urge." Her laugh was tinkling, happy but not really mocking. He watched a look of realization slid over her features, as she concluded that if Max recognized 494 as Ben's twin..., "Ben, he's the other one they recaptured?" She asked, eyes wide.

"Got it in one." 494 told her snidely.


	4. Understanding history

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement was intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE 1: So I've gotten a couple of private messages with people giving me a hard time for writing a back to Manticore fic when there are so many others out there. My reply, no one is making you read it, k thnx bye. But I did want to say, to those of you giving the fic a chance, that I've got a lot planned for this fic and it's not just a revision of other stories I've read.

AUTHOR'S NOTE 2: I've been really bad about replying to reviews and I'm sorry for that. I really appreciate them more than I can say, I've got three kids though and it seems like every time I sit down to reply some new disaster crops up. ;) I'm gonna get better about it though, I swear.

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"Got it in one." 494 said snidely and Brin spun on her heel and took off down the narrow hall, intent on finding Ben, suddenly much more concerned with him than Max. The last time she'd seen her baby sister she'd been with Zack so until then she'd assumed that her former CO had also been recaptured. Learning it was Ben had her head spinning with concern. She could sense 494's confusion as he followed close behind her, intrigued by her abrupt change in mood.

She found Ben's cell easily enough and standing there watching him sleep she grew completely still.

"So that's him..." she heard 494 say and something about the way he said it, the pain in his voice maybe, told her he was talking to himself.

"That's Ben," Brin found herself saying. "The night of the escape, Zack made us break up into pairs. Max wanted us to stay together but Zack wouldn't listen. He put Ben and I together. I think, in his own way, he was trying to be kind. He knew we'd need to split up once we'd gotten far enough away from base and out of all my brothers and sisters, Ben was one of the one's that I was never that close too. Zack probably thought it would make it easier to separate. It didn't."A glance at 494 showed his face set in an emotionless mask and she knew he was fighting hard to hide his interest.

"He was our second in command you know." She continued, wondering if he had in fact known that. "Well he was until Jack died and they dragged Ben off to PsyOps anyway."

494 was surprised to hear that his twin had been to PsyOps. For some reason he'd thought that he and the other twins and the members of Unit 2 that remained behind had been the first pleasure.

"Who was Jack?" he found himself asking, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't interested.

"Jack was the name we gave 714. About eight months before the escape he started having seizures. One night a janitor came in while he was in the middle of one. He gave Jack a prayer card with a picture of the Virgin Mary on it." She knew that he'd had to take a class on common religious beliefs in order to be cleared for his solo ops and it gave him the advantage of knowing more than they had as children. "He told Jack that she'd watch over him. We didn't know who or what she was. Ben was always making up stories to explain things for us since the handlers and command never did. He called her the Blue Lady and said she'd protect us if we believed in her. Then one day we fell in for morning inspection and Jack started seizing and collapsed. They took him away and when he didn't come back Max decided to sneak out and look for him. She found him in the lab and they were cutting him up. It was probably an autopsy but all we knew was that they were taking our brother apart."

734's eyes were distant and 494 could tell she was lost in her memories.

"Maxie was scared, we didn't really know why then, but she kept asking Ben why the Blue Lady hadn't protected Jack. Ben waited until after lights out and then climbed to the roof where we'd set up an altar for the Blue Lady. We all heard him screaming, demanding to know what we'd done wrong. He knew why Maxie was afraid and he was scared too. They caught him up there of course. He was gone for a couple of weeks and when he came back he was different, broken almost. And Zack had to make Seth his second in Ben's place." She cleared her throat then and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, he wasn't bothering to hide his interest anymore.

"Then one night Maxie collapsed just like Jack had. She'd been having the shakes for awhile but she'd hid them from everyone except Ben. They came in to take her away and we were all crowded around her trying to figure out what we could do to help. An orderly came forward, he reached out to grab her and Zack attacked him then the TAC leader came forward to take his place and this time Eva fought him. She grabbed his gun. I don't know what we would have done... we left the barracks, Eva was in front with the gun, Zack and Jondy were behind her helping Maxie, she was still weak, still shaking. The rest of us had their backs. Lydecker came around the corner. He shot Eva, killed her, and the next thing I knew Zack and Seth had jumped through the window and we followed them, running through the snow because we couldn't lose anyone else."

494 had been close to some of his unit mates but they weren't family like Unit 2 obviously was. Some of his had been taken, some had been killed, but they hadn't fought to keep them, to save them. He could understand the desire too though. He didn't want to be understanding damn it.

"We ran, Ben and I. We got away but we didn't want to lose each other, not when we were all the other had left. Before we split up we came up with a way to stay in touch. Zack eventually found Ben and he told him that Maxie had died during the escape. Still weak from the seizures, she'd fallen through some ice and Jondy had had to leave her. Ben contacted me after Zack left him. He was freaking out. Ben had always loved Maxie best, they had been so close, and he couldn't understand how the Blue Lady he put some much faith in had let her die."

494 found himself wincing in sympathy and cursed himself for it.

"Zack came to find me a few months later. Ben had snapped, he was killing people. We knew he was making "sacrifices" to the Blue Lady. They'd fought, Zack and Ben, and Ben had won and had taken off. Zack wanted me to help find him because he'd gotten a lead since then and thought that Max might be alive after all. He thought she was in trouble and he went to watch her back. I tried to contact Ben but I couldn't reach him. Then I got sick and ended up back here. Guess Zack didn't manage to find him to tell him either."

494 took another look at his twin and had to struggle to remember that so much of the crap he'd been through had been Ben's fault. He turned and started walking away, he didn't want to forgive and forget. He found himself stopping in front of 452's cell and was shocked to see her struggling to sit up, muttering about her damn shark DNA.

He was going to say something to alert her to his presence but a sudden noise stopped him. It was a sound somewhere between a snarl and a growl. He found himself turning, hands coming up slowly in front of him even as he shifted his center of balance and bent his knees slightly, falling into fighting stance. Nothing prepared him for the sight in front of him. He'd spent his fair share of time in the basement over the years thanks to his trips to PsyOps but he'd never been so close to one of the anomalies before, especially not one that was walking around freely. The guy was clearly Manticore made, with way too much canine DNA. He was huge and with his teeth bared aggressively he was pretty menacing. 494 heard 734's gasp of shock behind him and felt her moving to stand at his back. He was surprised she seemed willing to fight beside him given the way he'd treated her up until now.

And then it spoke and the jaws of the two X5's dropped comically.

"You ok, little fella?" it asked, never taking its eyes off of them, but maneuvering to place himself between them and the cell door. Only then did 494 notice that it held some food in its hands. It seemed to view them as a threat to 452.

"You make the strangest friends, Maxie." He heard 734 say from behind him in a strangled sort of voice.

"Brin?" He heard Max say seconds before he saw her dark brown eyes, liquid with emotion, peering out the slots in the door. "Joshua, its my sister Brin, I told you about her." He saw her look him over as dog boy moved out of the way. Her head tilted slightly to the side as she seemed to weigh him with her gaze. "You're not Ben." She said matter of factly, anything else she might have said lost when Joshua turned and in a moved he couldn't see, opened the supposedly tamper proof cell door.


	5. Fear of what's to come

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement was intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So my computer died, which I mentioned in the author's note in my other story, The Wooing of Max, and all my notes and stuff were lost. I know that I've sent private messages to a few of you, talking about ideas that I'd had for continuing stories from Dark Angel Alphabetically and things like that and I was hoping that some of you might still have those messages or remember what we'd talked about. If you do please, please send me a private message? Because really, losing all that work is kind of depressing the hell out of me. Reviews help though. Hint hint. That was subtle right? :P

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"You're not Ben." 452 had said matter of factly and for 494 it was like adding insult to injury. Less than an hour had passed since he'd snuck out of his bunk and he couldn't help but feel like his whole world had been turned upside down, every truth he'd ever know had been proven a lie. He knew it was the wrong way to react but he couldn't seem to help himself even as he opened his mouth to speak. He was confused and so he fell back on his typical defense mechanism, he acted like a dick.

"Give the lady a prize." He snapped out snidely. "Guess all that time out among the unwashed masses must have really sharpened your wits." His tone was full of disgust and dislike. "No wonder you and the rest of the rug rat traitors had to head for the hills." JoJo the dog faced boy had started to growl again but 494 couldn't bring himself to care, his heated gaze jumping back and forth between the two females. He watched as Max's Manticore mask slipped into place and his lips tightened in anger, directed at himself but she didn't know that. 734's reaction was stranger and much harder to understand. She just sighed and rolled her eyes, as though he hadn't surprised her at all but had still managed to exasperate her.

"Welcome home baby sister." 734 said and 494 watched with something akin to amazement as 452 closed down even more.

"This isn't home and you know it Brin." She spat. "It's prison and they've managed to turn you into an obedient little puppet."

494 knew that Max caught the flicker of hurt in Brin's eyes just like he had before her mask fell into place. The role of the emotionless soldier was a blessing and a curse that had been drilled into them from right around the time they took their first step. It offered them some small amount of protection but it also made anything remotely resembling a healthy relationship damn near impossible. Not that he cared, love was for fools after all. It wasn't real, it was just a con job that let you feel good for awhile before the world stepped in and yanked it away from you. Love fucking hurt. It was better not to get involved.

He noticed that Max, 452, he corrected himself firmly because they were soldiers and they didn't have names, had begun to sway on her feet. He felt something he might have called concern sweep through him, if he was that type of guy. He sighed, making sure to inject as much annoyance as he could muster into the sound. "Sit down before you fall down." He snapped out, only to find himself surprised by her complete lack of response. She didn't follow his orders. 494 was top dog at Manticore, the Alpha male, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd given an order and it hadn't been carried out.

"Bite me." Was her only reply.

"Little fella must sit down. Eat the food I brought. Heard the guards talking today, reindoctrination starts tomorrow." Joshua said and all three X5's paled. PsyOps was a special kind of torture but reindoctrination was an ever more special kind of hell. Manticore wasn't the inventor of reindoctrination, which was just another way to say brainwashing. The CIA had tried it, the Communists had tried it, it was methodical and effective and X5's were nearly as vulnerable to it as an ordinary human. Sure they had the advantage of having been trained to resist torture but that didn't help much given the givens.

Max sat down heavily on the cot and the others could feel the despair rolling off of her in waves. 494 and Brin sat down on either side of her and it forced her to remember that of the three of them, she was the only one that had never been through the experience before.

"They'll start out by trying to make you forget that you're Max." Brin said dully, "that you're an individual and not just a number."

"They'll try to convince you that everything thats ever gone wrong is your fault. People wouldn't have died if you'd tried harder, they'll say anything they can think of to make you feel ashamed." 494 offered quietly.

"They'll make you tell them over and over how you're bad and wrong and how everyone and everything you cared about on the outside is just as wrong as you are." Brin said, she and 494 were both reliving their own experiences and trying to prepare Max for what was to come, even though they both knew it was pretty much useless. You could understand the theory all you wanted but it didn't make resisting any easier.

"They'll keep pushing until you breakdown and thats when the real fun starts. Because thats when they start to act nice. They'll ask you about your friends or what you miss about being out in the world. It won't be much, but just that little kindness will make you feel so much gratitude, you'll hardly believe it. You'll want to be kind in return, you'll want to help them and make them happy." 494, said, shuddering at the memories assaulting his mind.

"When they think you feel guilty enough about being a bad person, then they start trying to make that guilt have more meaning, to make everything thats not what they want you to think or to like be the source of all that guilt. Then they try and make you think that they're the only ones that can save you, that if you just believe what they want you to, if you just do what they tell you too, then you'll be happy and safe, and you'll feel good again." The tension in Brin's body made it clear to both Max and 494 that this part of the process had been the hardest for her. "I was dying when they brought me in, it didn't take much work to get me to that part." She said and 494 felt a wave of sympathy that was swiftly followed by anger.

"Thats when you make the choice to be a good little soldier." 494 said bitterly. "You want to do it, you want to be safe and so you choose to accept what they're saying. It'll feel peaceful, like you've made the right decision and all your faults and mistakes are washed clean. And then they test you, it'll be something simple, something easy to get right, and they'll praise you, they'll make you feel like you've been reborn. Then they let you go, you'll be assigned to a unit and told you need to prove yourself."

Max knew this of course. It had been explained to them when they were children and had gone over capture scenarios. Hearing it from her sister and someone that looked and sounded like her brother, made it really hit home though, made it all the more haunting. And she knew that she was just as likely to break as anyone else especially because she tended to feel guilt and self doubt and she knew that made it easier for them and it scared the hell out of her. She leaned forward and buried her head in her hands, elbows propped up on her knees, dark curls tumbling all around her, not bothering to hide the faint tremor the fear she felt caused.

"I'll be here, baby sister." Brin said firmly, clearly having come to a decision. "I'll be here every night and I'll help you remember who you are."

494 felt jealousy slice through him and he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have someone willing to face the sort of punishment Brin would go through just to try and save his sense of self.

"Brin...what about Ben? Is he...?" Max asked, relieved that her sister had retained enough of herself to want to be there for her but terrified for Ben's sake.

Brin just shook her head. "I don't know Maxie. He's down the hall but he was asleep when I looked in. What happened? How did you end up here?"

"Ben...he was killing people Brin, he'd tattoo them with his barcode and then hunt them down and kill them. He kept recreating that day in the woods over and over. I caught him leaving an offering at a Church but he ran from me. I caught up with him on the Space Needle. I thought I convinced him that what he was doing was wrong and to take me to the priest that he'd kidnapped but when we got there, he locked me up and went after Father Destry. I got free and managed to distract him long enough for the Father to make a run for it. We fought. I could tell he was holding back but then he kicked me. I think I hit a tree because I don't remember anything after that."

"Its my fault." She whispered, tears in her eyes, clearly heartbroken, "It my fault that Lydecker found us." The pain in her eyes was making 494 want to reach out and hold her but he didn't give in to it.

"How could it possibly be your fault Maxie?" Brin asked.

"There was a man I knew in Seattle. He... Lydecker played a tape of a conversation they'd had for me. Logan had put a tracking device on my bike. He wanted Ben stopped and he told Lydecker right where to find us. I trusted him. I told him that I knew it was Ben and he called Lydecker." It was clear that Max couldn't decide which emotion to let to the forefront. She clearly felt a tremendous amount of guilt, because she'd put her trust in the wrong persona and it had cost her brother his freedom. And who could blame her for the rage she felt knowing Logan had betrayed her.

494's internal clock suddenly started sending up an alarm. "As fun as this has been, we need to go 734, if we want to make it back in time to avoid punishment." He watched Max's reaction out of the corner of his eye and couldn't understand why the disappointment he saw there seemed to warm something inside of him.

"We'll be back tomorrow." He told her, wondering when the hell he'd made that decision. He was supposed to hate her and all of the other traitors for the pain they'd put him through, he should be turning himself and 734 in for punishment not making plans to see 452 again. He suddenly felt very tired and rose to his feet. He'd have to figure it all out later, now was not the time to worry about it. He watched as Brin gave Max a quick hug.

"Eat the food Joshua brought for you baby sister. You'll need the strength." She said before moving to follow 494 out of the cell.

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Zack had taken a big risk, coming back to Seattle. Max, he loved her, but she was so stubborn and unwilling to follow orders that she was a danger to all of them. But he'd learned that Ben had ended up there and he needed to make sure that Max as alright. He didn't want to believe that Ben could hurt her but his little brother wasn't in his right mind. He hadn't been for a long time and it had been the news of Maxie's alleged death that had send him over the edge. Zack knew Max was reckless enough to try and take Ben on on her own and he couldn't predict what would happen if she did.

He'd been watching her apartment for a few days and had yet to see her. He'd even gone by Jam Pony and there'd been no sign of her. He'd felt a moment of relief at the thought that she might have finally smartened up and cut her ties but the moment was brief because he knew Maxie too well to believe it for long. Plus there was something about the way her friends were acting, Original Cindy and Sketchy, that had him worried. He considered confronting them but as far as he knew, they had no idea what Max really was. In the end, he decided that Logan Cale was his best bet.

He didn't bother using the front door, he entered through the penthouse. Seconds after he'd dropped to the floor his instincts were screaming at him to be cautious. He moved swiftly and silently, senses on high alert. Hearing an odd sound, he crept forward to peer around the corner. There at his computer desk was Logan, a bottle of scotch that was mostly empty at his elbow, passed out drunk. The smell of alcohol was thick in the air and the trash bin beside the desk held several empty bottles. Zack was instantly suspicious. Logan was a wine drinker, he knew from his talks with Max, the type of guy that had the perfect vintage for every occasion but who never drank enough to get drunk. What would drive a man like that to break out the hard stuff, every day for a few days if the bottles and what he knew of normal human tolerances were any indication?

He reached out and shook Logan's shoulder, wanting the older man to wake up so he could demand answers, but the cyber journalist's head just rolled to the side and he kept right on snoring.

Logan was obsessed with him computer, Zack knew, so he was pretty sure that any answers he'd need would be on there. A one handed shove, sent Logan rolling across the room and out of his way. Grabbing a chair, he settle down at the desk and began hacking Logan's system.

It didn't take long considering how much prowess the man supposedly had, and what he found made his blood boil. Rising to his feet, he grabbed the desk lamp and ripped the cord out of the socket and made quick work of tying Logan tightly down to his chair. Roller boy wouldn't be going anywhere until he got some answers. Pulling out his cell phone, Zack began to make some calls. He had every intention of getting Max, Ben and Brin back but he wasn't going to order the rest of the unit into it, not when it might amount to a suicide mission. He'd tell them what was going on and let them make up their own minds. He'd go it alone if he needed to but somehow he had the feeling that they'd kill him if he tried to leave them out of this.


	6. Will it ever end?

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement was intended.

A/N1: Betcha thought I'd forgotten about this fic. No such luck. But life has been hell and I haven't had much time to work on it lately. This chapter is longer than mine usually are to make up for the wait. I hope some of you are still interested in reading it. :)

A/N 2: For the sake of this story, the size of a unit within Manticore is around 20 soldiers. I say around because we know that unit members were lost, (Jack and whoever it was shot in the woods because of the crow for example) and while Manticore would have eventually replaced those soldiers to keep the ranks full, the number would occasionally fluctuate. So 12 soldiers escaped in '09 (Zack, Ben, Max, Seth, Brin, Syl, Krit, Vada, Kavi, Jondy, Zane, and Tinga (names not recognized from the television series were taken from the books by Max A. Collins)) leaving Jace and up to three more (who will be original characters if I decide to introduce them) behind.

The number 452 rang through the room over and over and over again that first day. They were determined to make her believe that that number was all she was. Manticore didn't want Max, they didn't have any use for her. They wanted X5-452, a soulless, emotionless robot that lived to follow orders and they wanted her badly. They called her 452, they screamed it at her endlessly and then tried to beat it into her, and worst of all they spoke it to her softly. Trying, always trying, to make her admit that a soldier was all she was. She fought them as hard as she could, telling them that her name was Max. At first she said it with sass and attitude enough to make Original Cindy cheer, then she said it with steely determination. Eventually though, she just said it like a word who's meaning was slowly being forgotten.

There were half a dozen times when she was ready to give in and let them win that first day. The words of Ben's twin kept her going. He'd said that the pain had to end sometime and she knew he was right. She considered, briefly, shutting herself down, a trick Manticore had taught early on in their training, to compartmentalize their minds, to shut down what they needed too in order prevent the enemy from breaking them. She knew that if she did that, they'd deem her defective and they'd disassemble her. Defective, for using a skill that they'd taught her against them, when at any other time it would be lauded as a successful use of her training. Consistency wasn't one of their strong points, she supposed, and the idea was set on the back burner for use as a last resort.

She prayed. She chided herself for doing it and yet it was almost involuntary. What was that saying? Something about no atheists in foxholes? She and her brothers and sisters weren't human, what interest would God take in her pleas; she asked herself. But it gave her something to cling too just like she clung to the memory of her life on the outside, to the love she felt for her family. And when it seemed that God was deaf to her pleas' for help, she prayed to the Blue Lady.

She kept waiting for the torture to end. It was all she _could_ do, wait it out. She wanted them to take her back to her cell so that Brin and Joshua and 494 could gather around her and help her retain her sense of self. She wanted that with a desperation like nothing she'd felt before. But it didn't end. The first day eased into a second without interruption. Time didn't have much meaning in this place but her tormentors came and went and the barrage never stopped for more than a few moments.

Those empty moments were terrifying, as the white coated techs stood huddled in a corner, reviewing her chart and murmuring too softly for her to hear. All it took was resignation on their faces to set her heart racing. If they gave up trying to break her, a quick death was the best she could hope for. And Manticore just wasn't that merciful.

Eventually even her shark DNA began to fail her and she could feel herself wilting under the strain and exhaustion, her head sinking to her chest, her eyes fluttering closed seconds after she'd jerked them open, over and over again. And she was hungry, more hungry than she'd even been before. Which was saying a lot given how long she'd lived her life on the run.

She knew that days must have passed. She'd long since given up her show of defiance, she didn't even bother to tell them her name was Max any more. Saying it out loud didn't make it any easier to hold on to and it only seemed to make them angry.

And then finally it happened. One of them snapped at her to state her designation and...she did. Her voice was weak, barely above a whisper, but she said it, she gave them what they wanted. "X5-452." It was simple, it was easy, it was giving in and letting go and it brought the pain to an end.

She felt hands slip under her arms, lifting her up, oddly gentle after everything that had happened, helping her to her feet and out of the room that had been the living embodiment of hell for an unknown amount of time. There was a tray of food waiting for her by the time she got back to her cell, it was warm and smelled like heaven. Lowering herself gingerly onto the cot she settled the tray onto her knees and began to eat slowly, bite by careful bite, knowing that rushing could undermine her efforts and cause her stomach to rebel. Hunger was overriding her exhaustion for the moment. She was safe. For now. She knew that this was just the very first step in their plan to break her. She tried to tell herself that they'd only won this small battle but she would win the war. She had to admit to herself that she wasn't very convincing.

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Time, 494 decided without much amusement, was a funny thing. It sped up and slow down at random, usually setting its pace to the exact opposite of your desires. Moments you wanted to last always seemed to fly by at frightful speeds, while the time you wanted to rush by, always slowed down to a mind numbing crawl. It was infuriating and his temper was starting to draw attention. Not from the guards and handlers but from 511 and a few of the other X's he considered friends, those that actually knew what to look for.

He'd made up his mind to be there for 452, even though it went against everything Manticore had ever tried to instill in him. Well, not everything, since they'd made a big deal about never abandoning your unit but since she technically wasn't a member of his unit, he wasn't sure if that counted or not. They'd done the unexpected though when they hadn't brought her back to her cell that first night or the night after. He knew, because he'd been down there every night for the last 6 days, waiting in the shadows with Brin and Joshua. He was still trying to figure out why he'd agreed to do it and he had no idea why he hadn't given up yet.

They weren't giving her the time to recover that they normally did and 494 was pretty sure that wasn't a good sign. Either they wanted to break her fast, because they had something in mind for her, or they thought that she was too resistant to their normal bag of tricks and had pulled out all the stops. Neither scenario boded well for her.

494 knew that he wasn't stupid. Manticore didn't allow their creations to have low level IQ's and usually if a mistake was made in that direction it was quickly discovered and the soldier was disassembled. So if stupidity wasn't to blame why did he care so damn much about what happened to Max? He learned more about her every night from Brin and Joshua as he waited for her to be brought back to her cell and the more he learned the more she fascinated him. According to Brin, she'd been one of the babies of their unit, only one member, a boy named Kavi, had been younger and only by a matter of weeks. She'd also been been very close to their unit's CO and 2IC. A closeness that had been encouraged by Lydecker. It was always assumed that she was being groomed for a command position of her own. He found that odd since there had never been any indication when they were children that they would be moved outside of their units, barring the sort of accidents that forced them to consolidate. It wasn't until after the escape that Manticore had started its own version of musical chairs, trying to keep them from forming the sort of attachments that had lead to unit 2's rebellion. What was it about her then, that had been different enough for Manticore to change the rules for her? He could think of a few things but none of them were good. Everything seemed to be falling into the "not good" category when he contemplated her and her situation.

The more he thought about his promise to help her get through this, the worse of an idea it seemed. She'd probably bolt at the first opportunity and leave them all behind again. He should just stay away, save himself the trouble. And he knew, deep down to his toes, he knew, that 09'ers were nothing if not trouble. He was better off keeping as much distance from them as possible. He nodded, satisfied with his logic and his decision, so satisfied that he hardly noticed that he'd gotten up from his bunk and his feet were carrying him to the basement.

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X5-734, Brin, was having her own doubts about her decision to help Max. She knew her baby sister had no desire to be back home. If she helped Max to resist Manticore's efforts, would she really be doing Max a favor? There was no way she could be happy here as the girl she was now. And if she helped her little sister and it lead to her escaping then in Manticore's eyes, Brin would be just as much a traitor as Max herself. And if everyone ended up being punished again the way they had after the escape in '09, was that fair?

The only sign of Brin's frustration was a slight tightening of her mouth, but 494 seemed to notice anyway since he raised an eyebrow as she walked over to where he sat in the shadows, facing Max's cell door. She wanted to curse at him for being so observant but she just sat down silently and tried to get comfortable on the cold cement floor.

She considered sharing her concerns with him but it wasn't that long ago that he'd hated her just on principal. And they were hardly friends even now. After days of little to no sleep, they were both exhausted; she tried to tell herself, and that was the only reason she was considering telling him what she was thinking about but deep down she knew that it had more to do with the fact that she was scared and lonely.

On the outside, she'd known that her brothers and sisters were out in the world somewhere, living their own lives, just knowing that had been enough to comfort her. Now, back at Manticore, surrounded by soldiers that had been taught to hate the '09'ers with their daily doses of propaganda for years, knowing that no one else in Unit 2 would understand why she'd allowed herself to be taken back alive, she'd never felt more alone.

A glance at 494's face showed him looking pensive. He seemed to have as much on his mind as she did. Funny how she never had any trouble differentiating him from Ben. They were so different it startled her when she was actually forced to acknowledge the fact that they had the same face, the same body. She scrubbed a hand over her sleepy eyes. She was tired, so very tired. Catching 494's attention, she used hand signals to suggest that they take turns get some shut eye, more from a reluctance to speak than from a fear of being overheard. She didn't bother to hide her relief when he insisted she go first. She just closed her eyes and with the practiced ease born of years grabbing sleep when she could get it, drifted off in seconds.

She recognized that she was dreaming almost immediately. It was a familiar dream, she'd had it almost every night for a month or two after she'd chosen to turn herself over to Lydecker, in the hopes that he could cure the Progeria that was rapidly aging her to death.

The dream was always the same, Zack would show up and tell her that Maxie was still alive. She'd find Ben and tell him and he'd come to his senses and stop killing. They'd go and find their baby sister together. In her dream it never took long for Ben to realize that he wasn't in love with Maxie and once he did he always realized that Brin was the woman for him. And because it _was _a dream, she'd never gotten sick and they were all still free.

Just as the dream was getting to the best part, the part where Ben actually said "I love you" to her, not to Maxie, and was leaning in to kiss her, she felt a hand touch her right shoulder and give one quick shake. She recognized the Manicore signal to wake quickly and quietly with the assurance that there was no immediate danger.

Sitting up without a sound she blinked twice to clear the sleep from her eyes. Spotting 494 she raised a questioning eyebrow at him and following the quick jerk of his head she saw Ben being dragged back to his cell by several of Psy Ops' elite. She and 494 had talked about helping Ben, although 494 was understandably reluctant, but there was nothing they could think of that wouldn't end in trouble for all of them and it broke her heart. Once the last of his escort had marched away, Brin rose to her feet and crept to his door. She knew he'd be asleep even before she peered into the cell. One of the creepy kids with mental powers always made sure that he was asleep before they left him alone. 494 thought they were probably afraid of what he'd do if he was left awake and unsupervised, Manticore's version of suicide watch or something.

His being asleep had one up side. She could stand at his door and drink in the sight of him without worrying about him waking up and catching her. She knew her emotions were written all over her face. She knew because 494 had followed her the first time she'd done this, stood watch over Ben. He'd looked at her and had said, "You're in love with him," His tone both bewildered and astonished. And then he'd walked away without another word. Every night after that, he'd nudged her as soon as he'd heard them approaching with Ben if she hadn't heard them first, and he'd left her to watch over him in peace.

Oddly tactful and kind, coming from him. It was almost enough to make her like him. Almost.

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Every dawn had brought a new round of torture for Ben until the day that Lydecker had come in to observe. He'd heard the Colonel's voice ring out stridently. Mentally tormenting the already crazy X5 clearly wasn't Deck's idea of a sound plan. The creepy kid, 792, was soon replaced and his world was suddenly a whole lot more pleasant. Until Deck decided it was time to get a little more hands on and had taken over. They dragged him down to reindocterination, like always, but this time Deck was by his side and instead of getting to work breaking him down they took him to a room and forced him to watch as they worked to break his Maxie. All he could think about was the fact that he finally had her back and he still couldn't protect her.

It only got worse when they dragged him away to show him Brin. He recognized her even at a distance, as she marched in perfect unison with a unit of other X5's. Her face was blank, her eyes cold and he couldn't help but wonder if there was anything left of his sister inside that shell.

He felt more lost than ever before. The two people he cared about more than life itself were back in the one place they'd been running from most of their lives. He never noticed the smug expression on Deck's face. The old man knew he'd won even if Ben hadn't realized it yet.

The old man knew his kids strengths like he knew the back of his own hand and he knew their weaknesses even better. Renfro wanted to wipe 493's mind. A clean slate, she believed, was their best option. But Lydecker disagreed. He knew that leaving Ben his connection to the others in Unit 2 was vital. That connection could be used to their advantage, it would allow them to control him more completely, making him more useful than if they simply mind wiped him and retrained him.

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The door to Max's cell swung open and it took everything she had not to flinch and cower. But then she saw Joshua's face and she couldn't help but smile. And it grew and then grew again as she spotted Brin and then 494 filing into the room behind him. There was something in their expressions though, that caused a feeling of unease to settle into the pit of her stomach. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but it was close to reluctance.

As hurt and exhausted as she was it really didn't take a genius to figure out why they might be feeling that way. Just being in her cell was an act of defiance and disloyalty. The punishment if they were discovered would be swift and sever. They would be made into examples and if they survived they wouldn't be left intact. How could she ask them to risk that?

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494 found himself watching Max's face closely from the second Josh opened her door, curious as to just how effective the reindoctorination had been so far. He noticed her happiness and the fact that it grew at the sight of him made something inside him warm. He couldn't help but notice the way her gaze darted back and forth between his face and Brin's, her expression shifting too fast to follow. He did managed to identify confusion and guilt and sorrow and finally resignation. Those four emotions were just a small fraction of the hundred or so that flashed across her face. He wanted to gather her up in his arms and tell her it would all be okay, he wanted to let her know that she wasn't alone. But his desire to comfort her was followed swiftly by a flash of anger, directed at himself, and he forced any "softness" he was feeling away and narrowed his eyes.

What was it about her that drew him to her against his will? He had a good thing going here, running pills and other contraband with the guards and the way he had worked his way up the internal ranks of Manticore. The other soldiers had learned to respect him even if his twin was an '09'er and a psycho. Getting to close to Max and Brin and Ben could bring all of that crashing down around him.

That thought was what forced him to connect the dots and realize what Maxie was thinking. No doubt she wanted them to help her make it through the torture she was in the middle of. She probably wanted their help badly enough not to think of the consequences if they were discovered and had just realized what their help might cost them. No doubt a part of her wanted them to help her regardless of what might happen and that would be making her feel guilty. She had to know it would make things that much harder for her if they didn't help, she probably didn't know if she could go it alone and come out the other side intact. She opened her mouth to say something and he had less than a fraction of a second to make a decision.

Grabbing her roll, the only part of her meal left uneaten, off of her tray, he took a big bite and tossed himself down onto the cot next to her. His exaggerated wince of pain when she slapped his hand and snatched the roll back brought a smile to his face and it felt like one hell of a reward, which made him scowl and mutter, "Bitch," just loud enough for her to hear. She slapped him upside the back of the head and this time it was Brin that was biting back a grin.

After that, none of them spoke, they just sat close together, because the small space didn't leave room to sprawl out, he told himself, and took comfort in each other's presence.

.¸¸.·´¨»«´¨·. ¸¸.

Zack was about half way through his calls when Logan began to stir. He trained a gun on the human without wasting more than a glance. The other man was fully awake, eyes wide with terror, by the time Zack was finished. They were on their way, all of them. Within three days they'd all be gathered for the first time since the escape and then the real planning could begin. Turning his attention back to the infamous Eyes Only his lips lifted up into something too feral to be called a smile, teethed bared a little too much for comfort. His words, spoken softly, were infused with menace. "Logan, we need to talk."


End file.
